You can look up the caravan that Sam and Tom get if you want to get an idea of what it looks like, it's a Swift Elegance 645 :)
Friday 23rd July 2021
At 19 months old, Ella couldn't be further than arms reach from either one of her parents because she couldn't bare to be apart from them. But when she was outside of the house, she was absolutely terrified of everything and everyone. She would only do something if she had close contact with Sam and/or Tom and the only other person that she trusted was Daniel and rarely Fletch.
It was a Friday evening, and Sam and Ella were shopping whilst Daniel and Tom were collecting the one thing that Sam had wished to spend a tiny fraction of their £2m winnings on the postcode lottery: a brand new caravan. And because 5 year old Daniel had just broken up from school for the summer holidays that day, they were going away for their first holiday in it, for a whole week. Also because Sam and Tom had no fears about money troubles, they had bought one of the most expensive caravans available at £27,495 that was brand new, and almost 8m long so it had plenty of room for the family of four. And Sam and Ella were buying all the essentials that they would need including a first aid kit that they would permanently keep on there.
"Which ones shall we get?" Sam asked her daughter who was sitting in the seat in the trolley as Sam held up a box of Disney character plasters and a box of spongebob squarepants plasters and Ella clearly pointed to the disney ones because it had Minnie Mouse on the front. "What do you say?" Sam prompted to her daughter who had a fairly small vocabulary.
"Peas!"
"Yeah, please." Sam smiled as she put the box in the trolley and then moved on as she had gotten everything for the first aid kit, though the most important thing was already at home: Ella's Von Willebrand clotting factor which was to be used in case of an emergency if Ella was bleeding too much.
"Hello Ella!" Fletch smiled as he approached the pair with a basket as he too had been doing some shopping. But quickly, Ella began squirming and whining so before she hurt herself, Sam lifted her out of the chair and held her against her chest.
"Sshh, it's alright." Sam said softly as Fletch gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't you remember him? It's uncle Fletch." Sam stated but Ella probably wasn't going to take her head out from under Sam's chin until she was back in the car and out of the stranger-filled supermarket as she clung tightly to her mother.
"Whatcha got all that lot for?" Fletch asked curiously as he looked at all of the medical stuff in the trolley.
"For the caravan." Sam said simply.
"Oh, you're going away tomorrow aren't you? Where abouts are you going?"
"Devon. So we've got to keep you and Daniel busy for an hour and a half in the car, haven't we?" Sam said to her daughter who still had her arms around Sam's neck but she gave a small nod. "Sorry, I'd better get going." Sam said as she gestured her daughter.
"That's fine, I'm sorry I scared her."
"Everyone scares her." Sam joked halfheartedly as she pushed the trolley to the back corner of the supermarket where the baby aisle was so that it was quiet, and she tried to calm her daughter down. "Ella, you can look up it's just me and you." Sam said softly and slowly, Ella opened her eyes and lifted her head from Sam's chest. "Now I've got to get on with the shopping so can I put you in your seat now? Yeah? Good girl." Sam praised as she carefully lowered Ella into the seat in the trolley where she was sitting on a folded up blanket to make it more comfortable but before Ella let go completely, she grabbed Sam's finger. And Sam smiled as she continued to hold her daughter's hand whilst she bent down and picked up a large pack of nappies and out them in the trolley. She knew it would make shopping a little harder but she also knew that it was a comfort to her daughter so she didn't let go as she went around the entire shop.
Sam grinned as she got out of the driver's seat of her car as she returned from shopping to find that on the driveway was the 'Swift Elegance 645' and Tom had just pulled up from collecting it.
"Do you know how weird it is driving a car with a 1700kg thing on the back?" Tom smirked as he got out of the car and opened the back door so that Daniel could jump out too.
"It'll be even heavier once we load it up." Sam stated bluntly. "We filled up an entire big trolley and a basket. And it was so tiring that someone fell asleep on the way home." Sam added and Tom smiled as he walked up to the back seat window to see that Ella was fast asleep in her car seat.
Saturday 24th July 2021, 3am
Usually, Ella slept through the night but there was the odd occasion when she would wake up and couldn't get back to sleep because even with her pink night light on, she was afraid of the darkness that surrounded her. Sam slowly opened her eyes as she was sure she heard something, but after listening tentatively for a few moments, it was silent.
"Mummy?" Sam heard it again and she knew it was her 19 month old daughter so she crept through the pitch blackness, across the landing and into her daughter's room, slightly illuminated by her pink night light, where Ella was sitting up in her bed with her thick blanket clutched up to her chin. Ella's room had a very thick carpet and the entire area was filled with dozens of soft plush toys so that Ella could roll around and play in her bedroom without causing herself an injury, but with Ella only just learning to walk, and needing support with every step, her falls were frequent and each time she took a small tumble, Sam's heart skipped a beat.
"Hey, can't you sleep?" Sam asked softly as she went and knelt down besides her daughter's cot bed which was just a small version of a normal bed. Ella grunted in reply as she rubbed her stomach and Sam knew exactly what that gesture meant; Ella's disease meant that she sometimes had bleeding in her stomach or intestines which didn't cause her a lot of pain, but it did cause a little bit of irritation as well as blood in her stools which always worried Sam or Tom whenever they changed her nappy, even though for Ella, it was normal. "Why don't, me and you have a cuddle and see if you can sleep then?" Sam suggested and Ella nodded so Sam scooped up Ella in her arms and carried her through to her and Tom's bedroom.
"Everything alright?" Tom asked sleepily as Sam had turned the bedside lamp on just so that she could see where she was going.
"Ella's got a bit of a tummy ache but she thinks that a cuddle might help her get back to sleep." Sam explained softly as she laid Ella in the middle of the bed and then Sam carefully got under the duvet besides her.
"How come she gets to sleep in your bed but I can't?" Daniel moaned groggily as he stood in the doorway and rubbed his eyes with his hairs sticking up in all directions.
"Because you're a lot older and Ella's ill." Tom replied exhaustedly as he knew that now he was going to have to go and tuck his son back into bed.
"It's never fair, Ella's always ill and you love her more than me but you said you wouldn't!" Daniel shouted as tears began to roll down his cheeks and because Daniel was making lots of noise, Ella began getting upset.
"That's not true." Tom protested firmly as he got out of bed.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Ella hiccuped though her 'r's were pronounced more like 'w's so she was saying 'so-wee'.
"Hey, sshh. Ella you've done nothing wrong." Sam said reassuringly as she wrapped her arms around her daughter.
"Look, I'm gonna come and sleep in your bed tonight but first you and I are going to have a chat." Tom said as he took Daniel's hand and walked him out of the room.
"Let's wipe those tears away, and cheer up eh? Just think about all the fun we're going to have on holiday this week." Sam said quietly as she stroked her daughters straight brown hair to soothe her. "Daniel's just a bit grumpy because it's really early in the morning. Which is also why you're a bit emotional, isn't it?" Sam smiled and Ella nodded because it sounded like that was what her mother wanted her to do and she liked to receive praise. "Night night." Sam whispered as she kissed Ella on the forehead, clicked the bedside lamp off and then snuggled up with her little girl.
Meanwhile, Tom took Daniel to his room, sat the boy in his bed and then knelt down in front of him.
"You're a little bit to young to understand this, but... Ella, she's got a disease that she's going to have for the rest of her life. And because of that, me and mummy have to be very careful of what she does. So for example, when we take you to the park, we can let you run around by yourself or with your friends because if you fall over, you might get a small graze or a bump, but you'll be fine yeah? But if Ella falls over, she could get hurt really badly and it could cause her a lot of pain for several days. Which is why, either me or mummy have to run around with Ella to make sure that she stays safe okay. We don't pay more attention to Ella because we love her more, because we love you both as much, it's because we have to be careful of what she does. And the reason mummy's letting her sleep in our bed, is because Ella's got a tummy ache, because of her disease, and you like lots of cuddles when you don't feel well don't you?"
"Yes." Daniel mumbled.
"Exactly. And I understand why you might think that we love her more, but I promise you we love both of you with all of our hearts okay? And we're gonna spend this holiday as a family of four and enjoy it as much as we can. That's why we got the caravan so that we can go away on holiday a lot more than once every couple of years because it's a lot easier to drive somewhere rather than organise an entire holiday." Tom explained though he knew that in reality his son hadn't really remembered the last bit of it. "So can you promise me, that you're going to say sorry to Ella and Mummy in the morning for upsetting them?"
"I promise." Daniel nodded.
"Good boy. Now c'mon, let's try and get some sleep." Tom ordered as he climbed into his son's bed and hugged him under the football themed duvet.
7:30am
Sam slowly opened her eyes to find that Ella was lying adjacent to her, on top of Tom's pillows with her head nuzzled into her mother's neck and she smiled because even when Ella had been a baby, they had always found her in odd positions in her cot.
"Mummy?" Sam looked down next to her without disturbing Ella to find that Daniel was standing there besides the bed twiddling his thumbs. "I'm sorry for shouting at you and I didn't mean to upset Ella so I'm sorry times two." Daniel said as he screwed his eyes up as though he had tried to memorise that he wanted to say.
"It's alright." Sam forced a smile before she rubbed her eyes to wake herself up properly. "Hello munchkin." Sam smiled as Ella lifted her head up and then looked at her mother. "You feeling better?" Sam asked and Ella nodded enthusiastically. "Well that's good isn't it?" Sam smiled.
"Me and Daniel made breakfast for everyone." Tom announced as he carried a tray into the bedroom and placed it in the middle of the bed. He and Daniel sat at the foot of the bed whilst Sam sat up and sat Ella in her lap because her daughter needed help feeding without making a mess.
"That looks lovely, thank you Daniel and daddy." Sam said though she knew that Tom would've done most've it. There was a fruit salad for Sam, a bowl of cereals for Daniel, some toast for Tom and Ella had a mixture of all three as she had a plate that had small squares of toast, a handful of dry cornflakes and a few slices of banana and chunks of pear.
9am
With a caravan packed with food, clothes, drinks and toys, a bike rack on the car as well as a roofbox, a cage in the boot of the car containing Shadow, Panda and Alex and the whole Kent Family in their seats, they were on their way to the camping site in Devon for a week packed of family activites.
10:30am
"Is this it?" Sam asked as Tom turned left down a country lane whilst being careful because he had a very heavy, very long caravan on the back as well as Ella and Daniel who were fast asleep because of the interrupted sleep caused by the early morning argument.
"Yeah, it should be just down here and then on the right." Tom said quietly.
"It's beautiful here." Sam exclaimed quietly. They were surrounded by green fields and very little noise unlike the city, and a few miles to their right, there was what looked like a big forest which they were sure to go hiking in with the dogs, who had also seemingly fallen asleep in the boot because they had been rather quiet and not disturbed the kids. Also, because it was summer, the weather was really sunny and the temperatures were gradually increasing as they were expected to soar around midday.
"Mm. This is a great idea of yours." Tom admitted.
"I know." Sam nodded smugly. "We can go away in this whenever we want, and all we have to pay for is some rent to pitch up at a camping site, and then some food and we're all ready to go. It doesn't even matter if it's raining because we can stay indoors and play games. And of course, it is a lot less stressful than taking those two through an airport and being worried about them getting lost. And we don't have to put the dogs in the kennels because that costs around £250 to put those three in the kennels for a week so we're saving a lot of money-"
"Okay, okay. I get the point, the caravan was an amazing idea of yours now can you stop rubbing it in." Tom smirked as he playfully nudged Sam's arm and then put his hand back on the steering wheel and he turned around the corner to find a barrier across the road next to a small hut where beyond them they could see a field full of tents.
"Hello Sir, how can I help you?" The man asked cheerily.
"We've got a booking for Mr and Mrs Kent." Tom replied and the man clicked a few times on his computer before he printed out a small card,
"Alright, this is your pass so the next time you come in or out of here you can just use this in the machine to get past the barrier. You are in the Cherry Park field which is very easy to find by the signposts, just turn left there and then left again. And you're on pitch number 13. I hope you enjoy your stay here." He smiled as he opened the barrier.
"Thank you." Tom replied as he pulled forwards and in less than a minute, he found their field which was only small and had room for around 20 caravans, but there were only a dozen there so it was very spacious with plenty of room between the caravan pitches. "Right, now the tricky part, I've got to try and back up without hitting the power post, but close enough so that we can attach our short electricity leads. All whilst I don't swear because we've got kids in the back, and I've never reversed this thing before." Tom stated bluntly.
"Let me do it." Sam ordered.
"What?"
"I've driven heavier vans than this in camp bastion and we had to back them into tight spaces."
"I thought you were a medic." Tom stated confusedly.
"I was but there were always jobs that needed doing that weren't in people's job descriptions, you just helped out wherever you could if you weren't on duty." Sam stated. "Come on, let me do it." She repeated as she got out of the car and Tom reluctantly got out and Sam jumped into the driver's seat and then quietly shut the door so that she didn't wake the kids.
"Do you want me to see you back?" Tom asked, but Sam just rolled her eyes as she pulled away and he had to jump to get out of her way. He watched as she did just a two point turn and then backed perfectly into the grass pitch with the caravan right next to the power post where they could hook up to the electricity.
"Easy." Sam said smugly as she got out of the car and threw the keys at Tom.
"I could've done that." Tom protested weakly.
"Sure you could." Sam muttered as she put her hands on her hips. "Right, do you think we should wake them? Or set up and then wake them?" Sam asked.
"Leave them, if we wake them up they'll probably be grouchy." Tom stated.
After setting up the caravan completely as well as the awning which gave them double the amount of space, Tom let the dogs out of the boot and left them in Sam's capable hands before he drove off and parked the car in the car park. Then he decided to wake Ella up first because she was usually less grumpy after a nap than her sibling.
"Ella... Come on Ella, we're here." Tom whispered as he tickled her gently under her chin and Ella suddenly opened her bright blue eyes and looked straight up at her Daddy. "Do you want to come and see the caravan?" Tom suggested and Ella nodded as she rubbed her sleepy eyes and so Tom smiled as he lifted her out of her car seat and then balanced her on her hip to save her the journey and then he went around to Daniel's side.
"Mummy?" Ella said demandingly to her father as she frowned.
"Mummy's by the caravan, you'll see her in a minute I promise." Tom smiled before he gently rubbed Daniel's arm. "Sleepy head, wakey wakey." Tom said softly.
"What?" Daniel croaked.
"We're here." Tom stated and so Daniel got out of the car and he walked with his daughter on her hip over to the field where they were staying which wasn't far, but as soon as Ella caught a glimpse of Sam as she came out of the awning, Ella started fidgeting in Tom's arms and pushing him away from her.
"Mummy!" Ella shouted.
"Hello Ella!" Sam smiled as she crouched down and Tom reluctantly put Ella down on the grass where he knew she had little chance of hurting herself. But once she realised that she was standing by herself, she didn't want to take another step because doing so without something to hold onto was daunting.
"Come on Ella." Daniel said as he took Ella's hand and Sam's heart warmed as she watched Daniel give Ella a helping hand to walk over to her across the couple of meters of cool fresh grass.
"Good boy." Sam whispered into his ear as she hugged them both at the same time. "Right, how about Daddy takes you to the play area and I'll have made lunch by the time you get back?" Sam suggested.
"There's a play area?" Daniel asked excitedly.
"Nooo!" Ella moaned as she clutched on to Sam.
"Alright, how about you go with Daddy," Sam said to Daniel, "and you can help me make lunch?" Sam suggested to her daughter.
"Okay." Daniel nodded as he went over and held hands with Tom. Sam waved them off before she lifted Ella up and walked into the awning where there were table and chairs set up, as well as a picnic blanket where the dogs were chewing on a Pig's ear each that Sam had given them to keep them occupied.
"You need changing don't you?" Sam concluded once she smelt something and so he carried Ella into the caravan. On the left of the door were two sofas opposite each other with a table in the middle, and these two would be Ella and Daniel's beds at night. Directly in front of the door was some space, then the kitchen against the wall with a cooker, fridge, small freezer and cupboards. And to the right of the door was a medium sized double bed with a rounded end, and beyond that was the bathroom which was the entire width of the caravan, and inside it was a toilet, sink and shower.
Sam laid Ella down on a changing mat that she placed on the sofa and Sam felt awful as she changed her daughter's dirty nappy where there were several small streaks of dark red blood in it, but at the end of the day there was nothing she could do about it, other than give her a small dose of clotting factor, but Sam had been instructed by Ella's consultant to only use it as an emergency.
"Right, that's you cleaned up. Just sit there for me and I'll be right back." Sam said sternly as she sat Ella upright in the middle of the sofa and then washed her hands in the kitchen sink before she went back to her daughter. "I reckon we've got time to play a game before we have to make lunch so why don't we go outside, and see how your walking is coming along?" Sam suggested dad she picked Ella up, carried her outside of the awning and sat down with her on the cool grass under the shade of a tree which was refreshing because of how hot it was getting. She put Ella on her feet and held both of her hands. "Come on, one foot in front of the other." Sam said encouragingly and slowly, Ella took a couple of wobbly steps forward until Sam couldn't stretch her arms out any further. "Turn around and if you walk back to me, I'll give you a big hug." Sam smiled as she gently let go of Ella's hands and the little girl stood independently on her own two feet but she didn't look like she was going to move. "Come on, if you trip I'll catch you; there's nothing to be scared of."
"Hungy." Ella commented to try and avoid having to walk.
"I know you are, I'm hungry too. But if you take a couple of steps for me, we can go and make lunch." Sam pleaded and thankfully, Ella took one small step forward as she kept her arms out in front of her as though she was walking like Frankenstein, but Sam knew that her arms were keeping her balanced. "Well done Ella! Just a couple more steps, I know you can do it." Ella then placed the other foot forward but it was a little bit too far ahead and as she tumbled head first, Sam picked her up under her arms and then held her against her chest before she even had a chance of hitting the soft grass. "Well done, we can try again a bit later." Sam whispered as she rubbed her daughter's back. "Now, let's go and make lunch, and you need to get some fluids into you because it's getting very hot." Sam stated as she carried Ella into the caravan where she opened all the windows to keep it cool in there.
6:30pm
As part of Ella's bedtime schedule, she was having her routine bath but there wasn't a bath on the caravan so Sam was improvising. She had filled up the bottom of the shower with water which thankfully could fit a good 4 inches in, which was all her 19 month old baby needed. And she had used the sink's plug in the shower basin.
"In you get." Sam smiled as she lifted Ella over the edge of the shower that was keeping the soapy water in, and she sat her in the middle of the square shower whilst Sam sat on the mat outside of it to supervise her child.
"No cold!" Ella giggled as she splashed her hands in the water.
"Do you know what the word for something that isn't cold is?" Sam asked. "It's hot. Can you say hot?" Sam asked as she knew that saying hot would be easier for Ella to say rather than warm.
"Hot." Ella replied, though she barely pronounced the T at all and she made a noise that Santa would make.
"Good girl." Sam smiled as Ella played with her yellow toy starfish in the foamy water.
"Sam?" Tom queried as he poked his head around the corner of the bathroom.
"Daddy!" Ella squealed as she put both hands between her legs and tried to cover up.
"I'm not looking at you, princess." Tom grinned.
"Yeah?" Sam replied.
"Um, Daniel wants to go to the play area before he has to get ready for bed. Is he allowed if I go over with him or not?" Tom asked.
"Um... I don't know." Sam sighed.
"It'll wear him out for bedtime." Tom stated.
"Okay but I don't want him to come running in all hyper active because Ella might be asleep." Sam replied.
"I promise I'll be quiet when I come back." Daniel said as he poked his head around the door. "Pleeeeeeeeease?" He pleaded as he clasped his hands together.
"Only if you definitely are quiet, and if don't want any fuss when you get back, it'll be bedtime straight away. Yes?" Sam said sternly.
"Okay!" Daniel nodded eagerly.
"Right, I'll see you in a bit." Tom smiled as he waved goodbye to his little girl before he took his son to the play area.
"Mik?" Ella asked as she put her hands out either side with her palms facing upwards to show that she was asking something.
"Milk? Yeah, once we've gotten you ready for bed." Sam nodded. "Do you want to get out? We just need to wash you first don't we?"
Tom ushered the dogs inside the caravan and out of the awning so that they were inside for the night and Daniel dramatically tiptoed in to keep as quiet as possible like he had promised. Tom smiled as he found his wife living down on the sofa that had been made up as Ella's bed with a thin pink blanket if she needed it in the night but really she just liked to clench it in her first. And Sam was breastfeeding Ella, which she only did twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening to keep her daughter's immune system up and to help her bond with her daughter, which Tom was finding increasingly difficult to do because Ella always seemed to cry out 'Mummy' rather than 'Daddy'. But he knew he'd have time to bond with her over their holiday.
"Let's get your pyjamas on, go and brush your teeth and then I'll read you a quick story." Tom said as he reached up in the cupboard and handed Daniel a pair of pyjamas so he began to get changed quietly whilst Sam gently stroked Ella's straight brown hair.
"I think you're ready to go to sleep now, aren't you?" Sam whispered as Ella unlatched and she sleepily nodded so Sam pulled her pyjama top back up and then slid off of Ella's bed and into the middle of her children's beds where the table had been removed, like it would be for every night. "Night night." Sam whispered as she kissed Ella on the head and then the little girl closed her eyes so Sam went over to get into bed becuase she knew Tom could deal with Daniel. Once Daniel was put to bed, Tom read a short story to him before all the lights were turned off and Tom climbed into bed besides his wife.
Sunday 25th July 2021, 1am
Sam opened her eyes only to realise that she wasn't feeling very well. She got up and went to the bathroom only when she sat down on the toilet, she realised that her pale blue pyjama bottoms were stained with a bright red patch in the crotch and they were wet. Sam sighed as she knew that she would have to get changed completely as well as find her sanitary products which were in one of the cupboards in the main room, all whilst she tried not to wake her children or her husband which she knew was going to be very difficult.
She considered trying to use folded up toilet roll for the rest of the night but she knew that it wouldn't stay in place plus she would probably soak through it in a couple of hours so she reluctantly flushed the toilet, washed her hands and then silently crept into the main room. She decided that it was best to go slowly to kept the noise to a minimal as she took a clean pair of pyjama bottoms, this time black ones, out and thankfully, she found the sanitary products right next to her underwear in the same cupboard so she grabbed what she needed and went back to the bathroom.
After taking a few minutes to clean herself up, Sam switched the bathroom light off and went back into the main room where Tom was sitting up in bed and a bedside lamp was on. Sam glanced at her children to ensure that they were both asleep still before she looked back at Tom and saw that he was holding a box of ibuprofen and glass of milk so that she wouldn't be taking it on an empty stomach.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to wake you." Sam apologised quietly as she took two tablets along with most of the glass of milk in one go.
"It's alright. It's not your fault." Tom smiled as he then took the box of tablets, put it in a high cupboard out of the reach of their children and then he put the glass in the washing up bowl before he and Sam got back into bed. "We didn't bring your hot water bottle did we?" Tom was disappointedly as he suddenly realised that something that often gave her instant pain relief was over an hour away.
"No, I forgot it." Sam admitted.
"Well to make up for your stupidity, I suppose I can give a lower abdominal massage if you want it." Tom whispered as he snuggled up behind her where Sam had her knees raised up slightly towards her abdomen.
"Yes please." Sam gave a small nod so Tom began gently palpating her abdomen whilst Sam took deep breaths.
"Y'know, I'm glad that you're on."
"Why?" Sam asked confusedly.
"Because when we're on holiday in this caravan, there's no chance of us making love because we sleep in the same room as the kids. So, if you're on now, that kills two birds with one stone, and then for the next three weeks we can be at it like rabbits after the kids have gone to sleep." Tom grinned.
"The thought of that right now makes me wanna pass out." Sam groaned quietly.
"Sorry. All I'm focused on right now, is getting you off to sleep so that you won't be in pain." Tom said kindly.
At 8am that morning, Sam had taken Daniel for a shower in the family bathroom in the toilet block so that she could keep an eye on him where there would be more room and the facilities were very modern and clean leaving Tom with Ella. And he finally had some time alone with her, though it went wrong very quickly. Tom was washing up at the sink whilst Ella sat on the floor on top of his feet so that he knew she was the at all times as she played with her pink blanket when he looked down after something caught his eye and he noticed spots of blood on the blanket.
"Daddy." Ella mumbled and Tom bent down to realise that she had blood dripping down over her mouth and off of her chin; she was having a nosebleed.
"It's okay Ella, it's just a little bit of blood. Look, me and you can have a cuddle until it stops." Tom said as he grabbed the box of tissues, picked Ella up and sat her on his lap, facing him as he sat on his and Sam's bed. He gently cleaned her up with the soft hello kitty tissues and held a tissue bunched up under her nose whilst she still had room to breath out of her mouth. "I think mummy's seen enough blood for one day, let's try and stop this before she comes back with your brother." Tom forced a smiled as he tried not to let his daughter panic. "Lean your head forward for me, so you're looking down at your blanket. Good girl. Just keep looking down and it'll all be over soon." Tom said reassuringly as he gently held the bridge of her noise however he knew that Ella's blood clotting disorder sometimes meant that she had a nosebleed for more than ten minutes, and it was going to seem a lot longer than that because Ella wasn't very patient and needed something to entertain her.
"Right I think it's all finished now. Just don't touch your nose." Tom said sternly as he pulled the bloodied tissue away from Ella and added it to the pile besides him.
"Ta." Ella smiled which was what they had taught her to say instead of thank you, because it was much simpler but she still knew the meaning of it.
"You're welcome, you were a very brave girl." Tom praised and suddenly Ella leant forward and wrapped her arms around Tom's neck. "Aw, I love you." Tom said softly as he hugged Ella back, and it was then that Sam and Daniel returned with wet hair but dressed for the day. Sam smiled at the sight of her husband and daughter but her heart skipped a beat when she noticed the pile of bloody tissues. "Ella had a nose bleed but she was a very good girl and stayed nice and calm." Tom explained as Ella continued to hug her father; she was quite comfortable where she was so she didn't want to move. And quite frankly, Tom was relieved that Ella hadn't jumped up and asked her mother for a hug when she had entered the caravan because she seemed content with where she was then.
"Okay." Sam forced a smile as she patted Ella on the back. "Right, shall we get your hair dried mister?" Sam said as she put her hands on her son's shoulders.
Coming up: What will The Kent Family get up to on the remainder of their holiday? And will Tom manage to bond a little bit more with Ella?
Thanks for reading, please review :)